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Keyboard Builders' Digest / Tips & Tricks

Soldering tips

What was the one thing you learned that would change the way you solder forever more?

KBD.news
Published August 27, 2021
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@hackaday asked for life-changing tips and experiences – and they got some interesting ones.

Besides the usual tips on proper soldering (using a fume extractor, flux, tinning the iron tip, more flux, etc.) there were some funny and/or interesting entries:

  • Always wear trousers.
  • When it smells like chicken, you are holding it wrong (pic).
  • Never try to catch a falling soldering iron.
  • Using Blu Tack to hold components in place.
  • On fumes
  • Solder wire wrapped onto your finger.

The number of likes on this last one indicates this little trick was new for many people:

Solder wrapped onto a fingertip means the rest of the hand is available to hold things in place. Means I don't need clips to hold the board, usually --@regularfry.

And a related observation by Alan Yates:

You can hold components a lot longer than you might at 1st imagine without getting burnt.

And finally a nice vintage third hand: :)

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Published on Fri 27th Aug 2021. Featured in KBD #41 (source).


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